Fleur in the Park gets season off to a flyer in Gowran feature The Andy Slattery-trained Fleur in the Park (5/4) was an extremely impressive winner of the Grade 2 PWC Danoli Chase for rider Cian Quirke, who appeared to pick up an injury after the race. The seven-year-old son of Walk In The Park was a Grade 1 winner last season before finishing second in the Grade 1 at Punchestown and was ruled out then with a small injury, but got back on track today with a good patient ride from Quirke to beat Blood Destiny by six and a half lengths. Senecia led a bold sight out in front at the start, but after a few poor jumps lost his place, which allowed Paul Townend and Blood Destiny to pick up the feature, but up until the final two flights, Quirke came oozing confidence and with two good jumps, Fleur in the Park came home impressively. Speaking after the race, Slattery revealed: "Cian said he dragged his shoulder getting up on Fleur In The Park and I'd say he popped his shoulder. "When you win a Grade 1 as a novice, you'd think it would be hard to win a race this season, but this is grand and he was only 80 or 85% fit today. Cian said he had a blow at the final fence although he was fitter than I thought he was. "It was a good performance as he gave weight to race-fit Blood Destiny, who was rated 156. "We'll either go for the John Durkan (Punchestown) or the race in Down Royal (BetVictor Envoi Allen Champion Chase) next and then maybe the King George (Kempton). We'll see as we go along and he'll have had three races before Christmas and three after. "He would love Kempton as he has pace for 2m4f and stays three miles. We'll dream away and see, and the next day will tell us a lot. "Margaret's (O'Rourke, owner) husband Padraig is from up the road and is a racecourse director, but isn't here today as he isn't well at the moment, so this is a tonic." (Quotes from Tom Weekes)
